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The 100 Best Players in Basketball History, the Conclusion.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

We’ve gone through the careers of almost all of the 150
players in basketball history with the most total win shares in an effort to
find the new top 50/top 100 players who ever lived.

20 left.

20. Magic Johnson 188.42 PG 1096 .172

Magic, as of this second, has a ten win lead on LeBron, but is .03
behind him per game; you could go either way – but that won’t be true a year
from now.

We make King James wait a year and say that Magic takes over as
number one overall.

19. Jerry West 189.33 SG 1085 .174

Look how West and Magic have nearly identical careers.New number one (James is going by both next
year)

18. Bill Russell 191.27 C 1128 .170

So close, Russell’s got a little more career value and a little
less per game value than the two Lakers; he moves into first (but a year from
now…LeBron)

17. Moses Malone 193.95 C 1555 .125

Moses steps back in per game value; he loses the coin flip to
Bird, but goes ahead of Mikan.

16. Reggie Miller 194.3 SG 1533 .127

Like Moses, but a tick better.Just behind Bird.

15. David Robinson 196.19 C 1110 .178

With only 14 players left – the best basketball player ever is the
Admiral.LeBron probably catches him in
a year too.

14. Dirk Nowitzki 196.42 PF 1236 .159

Dirk and LeBron are close right now when playing off the career
against the per game; I’ll keep consistent and give Dirk the coin flip for one
more year.By the way – no debate, much
more career value and nearly the same per game value, if Dirk retires today
he’s better than Bird.

13. Charles Barkley 196.73 PF 1196 .164

Charles Barkley’s career value gets him right behind only
Robinson.

12. Kobe Bryant 201.59 SG 1459 .138

Kobe finishes between LeBron and Dirk.For one more year.

11. Artis Gilmore 202.84 C 1429 .142

Gilmore lands right above Kobe.

10. Oscar Robertson 202.26 PG 1126 .180

Look at Oscar; not only the most wins but a higher per game value
than anyone since LeBron.

9. Kevin Garnett 203 PF 1454 .140

Right above Gilmore is KG…we are getting down to it. That knocks
James out of the top 10…for one more year.

8. Julius Erving 208 SF 1432 .145

Ahead of his old teammate Barkley comes Doc.

7. Shaquille O'Neal 212.79 C 1423 .150

Shaq is just above the Admiral.3 left.

6. Tim Duncan 217.3 C 1391 .156

He has more value left –
but doesn’t need it to be the overall number one with only five players
left.

5. John Stockton 229.05 G
1686 .136

A jump in career value to
Stockton, that is going to get him above Oscar.

4.Michael Jordan 253.78 G
1251 .203

LeBron’s a little bit away – he’d need 70 wins and not give up
much at all from his career value; it’s 4 years – check back in 2017.3 left – can anyone catch Jordan?

3. Karl Malone 257.62 F
1669 .154

Duncan will never catch
Malone – he’s 40 wins away.Only two
left, at worst, that Utah team had two of the 6 greatest players who ever lived
to this date.

2.Wilt Chamberlain 278.72 C
1215 .229

Only MIkan has more per game and only the next guy has more career
– the Dipper is going to take this thing. Jordan isn’t close.

1.Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 308.97 C 1797 .172

I spoke too soon.Now it’s
a question of Wilt’s per game advantage vs. Kareem’scareer advantage.It’s a flat coin flip, really just a matter
of preference.